INTERNET RAMBLES

Holy bat-gravity! Climbing walls better than Batman

Patty Ann Malley explores the gravity-defying, jaw-dropping online

Patty Ann Malley is a wife, mother and wanderer. The youngest of eight in a family that was firmly planted in one spot, she’s spent the last 29 years changing addresses (but not husbands), following jobs. Her careers have included retail, advertising, public relations, restaurant, catechist and ad-hoc needs-must fill-in-the-blank. She’s gone from being a wild child to a child of God. Her eternal question (“Are we there yet?”) has yet to be answered.

Looks like Bruce Wayne’s “bat poles” have finally come out of the closet, aiding the fight against crime in some innovative ways.

Who can forget that sober edict, “To the bat poles!” whenever Batman would receive an emergency call from Gotham City’s Commissioner Gordon? Employed for efficiency, the twin poles – one for Batman and one for Robin – stood ready behind a sliding bookcase in Wayne Manor, facilitating the descent of the dynamic duo to the Bat Cave. The clip below sets the scene:

Today’s crime fighters, at least these cops in Vietnam, are using their pole to climb up a building. That’s right, these cops are climbing up a building … with a pole. And quickly, too. Check out the viral video below. Amazing!

But how is that possible? According to Wired, “The best way to look at the problem is to create a force diagram, also called a free body diagram. In physics, a free body diagram shows an object and all of the forces acting on that object. An arrow shows the direction and magnitude of each force. If an object is in equilibrium, all these forces must add up to zero (technically the zero vector).”

So, while physics is the answer to this riddle, teamwork is still a critical element. Wow!

Skyscraper or sky forest?

Positive News reports that “Work is under way on a ‘vertical forest’ in eastern China: two towers that will be covered in 1,100 trees and 2,500 cascading plants and shrubs. The project, the first of its kind in Asia, is being built in Nanjing city and is expected to be finished in 2018. It will include offices, a museum and a school for green architecture as well as shops and exhibition space.”

Italian architect Stefano Boeri, who designed the towers as a creative means to combat pollution, wants to take his designs worldwide. Considering the towers are projected to “absorb 25 tons of CO2 each year and produce 60 kilograms of oxygen each day,” that might be a great idea.

Sure is pretty!

Starved for intimate contact? Go to the airport!

The Transportation Security Administration has decided it will use only one pat-down method, not five, going forward. A great streamlining effort, right? But, as New York Daily News reports, “The TSA will have ‘more intimate contact’ when feeling up fliers who elect for the pat-down method before taking off.” Oh, and those selected at random, too. Fantastic!

“The TSA,” according to Newsy, “is looking to rehab its image and boost its effectiveness. In 2015, the Department of Homeland Security tried to sneak 70 mock guns and explosives past agents, and 67 got through.”

“In one test, an undercover agent was stopped after setting off an alarm at a magnetometer. But TSA screeners failed to detect a fake explosive device that was taped to his back during a follow up pat-down,” ABC’s Pierre Thomas reported. “The agency said the new security procedure will take longer but claimed that that somehow won’t cause delays overall.”

Weird revelations for wedding nights

Word of Faith Fellowship members in Spindale, North Carolina are coming forward with some weird revelations about the invasive nature of “church” leadership.

Ex-member John Cooper speaks about the onerous rules for his wedding night

The Associated Press lists a few of the bizarre wedding-night edicts imposed on former member John Cooper and other peculiarities required by Word of Faith Fellowship:

Congregants need permission from leader Jane Whaley and other ministers to get married, and it then can take months – or even a year – before the newlyweds are allowed to have sex.

No one is allowed to date without permission, and most relationships and marriages are arranged by Whaley and ministers.

On their wedding night, couples are permitted only a “godly peck on the cheek.” When they get in bed together, they must roll over and go to sleep.

For all married couples, love-making is limited to 30 minutes, no foreplay is allowed, the lights must be turned off and only the missionary position is sanctioned.

Couples need permission from church leadership to have children, and leaders dole out condoms to make sure unapproved women don’t get pregnant.

The following clip sheds more light on how, exactly, someone could gain such control over others.

Whoops – Did ISIS do that?

Back in 2014, ISIS went to town on the burial shrine of Jonah, of Ninevah fame. The video clip below displays the rampant destruction – what ISIS does best – that was followed up by the terrorists tunneling deep below the site in search of whatever artifacts could be found and subsequently sold on the black market.

But just last month, Mosul was liberated from ISIS fighters. What could not be sold or removed, however, is the unlikely archeological gift ISIS left behind: more proof the Bible is factual.

With the liberation of Mosul last month, the existence of the biblical King Sennacherib, the Assyrian King who reigned from 705–681 B.C., has now entered into the realm of archeological record. His famed palace, previously untouched, is currently being excavated. According to Telegraph UK:

Assyrian King Sennacherib

There’s a huge amount of history down there, not just ornamental stones. It is an opportunity to finally map the treasure-house of the world’s first great empire, from the period of its greatest success.”

Ms Salih, a former curator of the Mosul museum who is supervising a five-man team carrying out the emergency documentation, said she believes Isil looted hundreds of objects before Iraqi forces recaptured the eastern side of the city.

“I can only imagine how much Daesh (ISIS) discovered down there before we got here,” she told the Telegraph by phone from Mosul. “We believe they took many of the artefacts, such as pottery and smaller pieces, away to sell. But what they left will be studied and will add a lot to our knowledge of the period.”

So much for biblical naysayers who scrabble to ascribe scripture to myth.